Podcasts

James Cameron-Wilson reviews new films Red Sparrow, Game Night and Kobiety Mafii and discusses the effect of the adverse weather on the UK box office as well as the extraordinary continuing success of musical The Greatest Showman. He also looks back at the recent Oscars ceremony, admitting that his predictions were not perfect - he got ONE category wrong!

Helal Miah from The Share Centre explained the background to this week’s biggest story: Comcast’s takeover bid for Sky. He also looked at updates from Associated British Foods, which owns Primark and Twinings Tea, as well as ITV and advertising giant, WPP. Looking ahead, Helal focused on expected updates from online takeaway firm, Just Eat, and Rolls Royce.

Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University explains why the left/right divide is becoming less and less important. Voters’ primary concern is no longer tax, spending and the size of the public sector. Instead votes are now split around ‘internationalism’ which means attitudes to immigration, trade and the like. Tim also looks at whether the UK needs to spend more money on ‘digital defence’ as well as the decline of the traditional British establishment.

James Cameron Wilson reviews ‘I, Tonya’, the new movie about the former Olympic skater, Tonya Harding. James is very positive about the film and thinks that Margot Robbie deserves the Best Actress gong at next week’s Oscars. But he fears the award will go elsewhere. James also looks at the continuing success of ‘The Greatest Showman’ with its soundtrack hitting No 1 in the music charts. Finally, James looks at the new DVD release of ‘The Party’ Kristin Scott Thomas and Emily Mortimer.

Steve Caplin examines Samsung's idea for combining a phone with a drone, robot cucumber pickers, a new form of light discovered by American physicists, edible QR codes and the app that helps you think you're in a cafe.

Adam talks to author and coach Fadela Hilali about the increasing prevalence of emotional eating and how we can be trapped in a desperate cycle of emotional pain which leads to binge eating and guilt. Fadela provides practical insight into how to move from eating to deal with stress, anxiety and unhappiness to a life where you feel so good about yourself that there’s no room for cake!

Hastened by sluggish productivity growth, the once unfashionable idea of a centrally planned Industrial Strategy is back on the political agenda in Britain. But will it have the desired effect? Joining us today is the IEA’s Head of Transport Dr Richard Wellings, along with Head of Tech Policy Diego Zuluaga. The pair take a look at how industrial strategies have historically fared around the world, and examine the extent to which we can rely on the free market to deliver the infrastructure we need – and where government should fit into all this.

Technology is transforming the world of money. Or at least that’s what the Bitcoin junkies would have you believe. They say digital currencies have arrived and are about to revolutionise the way we buy things. But recent downturns in their prices have led some to wonder whether digital currencies have fuelled a dangerous speculative bubble that needs to be curbed by regulators. Is the Bitcoin boom over? Or was it just the start for digital currencies? This week, Ayeisha Thomas-Smith is joined by Carl Miller from Demos, Fran Boait from Positive Money, and Duncan McCann from NEF.

Want to keep up with the latest earnings updates from the States? Well join Chris Hill and the Motley Fool Radio Show team here on Share Radio, direct from Washington DC, for news, views and analysis of the US stocks that matter. In this week's show: Best Buy and Kohl’s report strong holiday profits; Amazon buys Ring; And Spotify files to go public; Plus, Lakehouse Capital fund manager Joe Magyer talks Buffett, small caps, hot trends, and investing in Australia.

Toys R Us and Maplin were sunk this week, investors are nervously watching Carpetright and Mothercare, and restaurants from Jamie Oliver’s, to Byron, and now Prezzo are closing their doors. This week’s shop closures could see more than 5,000 jobs lost. It looks like a slow motion crash on the High Street. But at the same time the economy is doing okay, and sales in the housing market are reasonably buoyant, so why the trouble? In this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Georgie Frost and Rachel Rickard Straus take a look at Britain’s high street woes and whether it is company debt, consumer confidence, overexpansion gone wrong, or a failure to keep up with the times that is sinking well-known names.